Sylvania



(No Model.)

H. G. BOOZ & J. 0. VANDEGRIET.

PIPE OR PLUE CLEANER.

No. 427,963. Patented May 13,1890! "UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HARVEY G. BOOZ AND JOHN C. VANDEGRIFT, OF DOYLESTOWN, PENN- SYLVANIA.

PIPE OR FLUE CLEANER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 427,963, dated May 13,1890.

Application filed February 13, 1890. Serial No. 340,318. (No model.)

To all lull/07771 it ntay concern.-

Be it known that we, HARVEY G. BOOZ and JOHN C. VANDEGRIFT, citizens ofthe United States, residing at Doylestown, in the county of Bucks andState of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Pipe and Flue Cleaners; and we do declare the following to be a full,clear, and exact description. of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame.

Our invention relates to flue-cleaners; and it consists of such a deviceas shall be simple, cheap, and effective, as will be hereinafter morefully set forth.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, in which the samereference-numerals indicate corresponding parts in each of the Views,Figure 1 isa perspective view of our cleaner, and Fig. 2 is an end viewshowing it applied to a stove-pipe.

In cleaning fines and stove-pipes it is necessary to provide the cleanerwith blunt out ting-edges or scrapers, which must be forced against theinterior of the object being cleaned with sufiicient force to removewhatever dust or scale may have collected in it, and at the same time itmust be so constructed that it can be applied to fiues or pipes ofdifferent diameters and be put into them easily and pass joints and suchlike obstructions without injury to either the cleaner or to the pipe orflue. These features we have embodied in one invention, which consistsof a series of elastic arms 1 1, which are secured in a hantile 2 at theone end and have their opposite ends expanded, and each provided with asegmental spiral or curved portion 3. These curved portions divergeslightly outward and form scrapers for cleaning the interior of thepipe. The point of each scraper is rounded to avoid catching upon thejoints or other obstructions, and the bend at. the opposite end of eachscraper, where it is joined with the arm, is obtuse, so that they willnot catch upon the end of the pipe or fine when being drawn into it foroperating purposes. The arms, of which there can be any desired nu mber,are preferably bent or curved toward each other at their intermediateportion, so

that no part of the cleaner can possibly come in contact with theinterior of the'pipe or flue except the outer edges of the blades orscrapers, and thus all unnecessary friction is avoided.

As the cleaner is drawn into the flue, the scrapers substantially form acomplete circle, as shown in Fig. 2, so that the blades are readilybrought into contact with every portion of the interior of the flue orpipe, as by giving it a slight rotation the portions of the pipe whichwere between the ends of the blades when the cleaner was being drawnthrough in one position are subjected to the action of the blades whenthe cleaner is partly rotated and drawn back and forth in the newposition.

For cleaning fines we form an edge .upon each scraper by flattening thesides, as shown at 4 4, and beveling or inclining the faces of theflattened portions toward each other, or the arms and scrapers can bemade of square or other angled rods to secure a cutting on the scrapers.This gives a better cuttingedge for removing the scale or incrust-ationswhich form upon the interiorof the lines, and is more difficult toremove than the soot upon the interior of stove-pipes. We make the armsand scrapers out of stronger and stiffer material for cleaning linesthan for cleaning stove-pipes. The scrapers are flattened for cleaningpipes, although itis not absolutely necessary, as a round surface can beused to remove the soot in the pipe.

Instead of securing the arms directly in the end of the handle, they canbe secured in a head 5, which can be permanently or detachably securedto the end of the handle.

As the arms can be made out of bars of iron or wire, with the outer endsflattened and stamped into shape, the cleaner can be made very cheaply,and as it can be drawn into a pipe or fine considerably smaller-than thediameter of ten scrapers when the wings or scrapers are expanded totheir limit the device can be used upon different-sized pipes withoutany change or alteration.

Having described our invention, we claim 1. As an improved article ofmanufacture, a flue-cleaner comprising a handle and a having its sidesflattened, the faces of which are inclined toward each other to form anedge, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof we atfixonrsignatures 15 in 'n'esenee of twowitnesses.

HARVEY G. BOOZ. JOHN (J. "ANDEGRIF'J.

Witnesses:

SAMUEL M. YA'rEs, HENRY LEAR.

thereto, the outer end of each of which is 10 formed into or providedwith a curved portion forming the segment of a circle and

